Due to the success of Apple iPods, numerous websites on the Internet have invested on offering free iPods to website visitors with little strings attached.

An example website would be FreeiPods.com. FreeiPods.Com gives away free iPods to website visitors and potential participants who completes an offer. Then they would be required to recruit 5 friends to do the same. Internet websites such as this claims that it is not a scam, though it does require a little bit of work on your part.

If you're extremely gullible, you will easily be enticed to get one o fthe free iPods, although we must admit, this promise of a free iPod from Internet websites such as FreeiPods.com looks very dubious.

But closer scrutiny would make it appear that the site is legitimate. The scheme does not look every bit like a networking pyramid scheme. It seems like a new type of marketing online. It looks so professional with support from major Internet companies like AOL, eBay and Columbia House.

Also, many happy customers are appearing like mushrooms all over the internet claiming receiving free iPods. All the more that skeptics are analyzing the economics.

How it Works

This is basically how it works:

1. An internet website offering free iPods like FreeiPods.com would offer either an iPod or a US$ 250 gift certificate to potential contestants that would sign up for several online promotions.

2. It would also be required that they persuade five more people to sign up.

3. The subscribers are then given the option of choosing from 10 different offers, that includes a trial of 45 days of AOL, and a trial of two weeks of the genealogy service of Ancestry.com. As you can see, these offers are easily cancelled and are free.

4. When the online trials are finally over, for both the main customer and the five referred people, the free iPod is provided.

Several people have written on their blog about the free iPod. At first they were skeptical, but when they tried it out, they eventually had the free iPod. Some also had a nice feedback for the set up since the Internet company did not require any credit card number or any hidden fees.

In fact, some receivers of the free iPods are so convinced that they created Internet websites that are affiliates of the free iPods websites. These websites are called "conga lines," and are supposed to persuade other people that the free iPods schemes are not a scam. Some of the websites, to name a few, are FlatScreens.com and FreeiPodGuide.

Gratis Internet

People behind the free iPod websites also denied that the site is a a networking scheme. It is not like an advertised networking scheme on eBay that also promises to give away free iPods.

They also revealed that Gratis Internet, maker of FreeiPod.com receives a huge amount of money for sending potential subscribers to sites like eBay, AOL, or RealNetworks. These internet websites offering free iPods are marketing firms sending potential customers to client websites or advertisers. The scheme is closely related to viral marketing.

The management refused to specify the money involved in the business, and said that they do not directly deal with the major companies involved. Gratis Internet was just commissioned by a third-party marketing agency, such as San Francisco's Adteractive.

For four years, Gratis Internet was in operation of customer-acquisition schemes via these websites: FreeCDs.com, FreeVideoGames.com, FreeDVDs.com, and FreeCondoms.com.

More than US$ 3 million worth of free merchandise that includes free iPods and CDs were given away, including five to six million condoms.

Since its launching last June, FreeiPods.com was successful in dispatching more than 2,500 free iPods. In monetary terms, that is more than US$ 1 million.

During the last few weeks, Internet traffic hits have exploded. About one million Internet visitors have enrolled in the scheme. Though majority of these people are using fake names and addresses, it reflects the interest of the public on the free iPods and other stuffs.

Successful customers that have finished the requirements of the scheme would receive a message of "Sent to Vendor, Waiting on Product." This message means that the free iPod is already on backorder. Though, previously, iPods were delayed in shipment, the process would be improved.